Kyle Allen's poor Lions preseason debut is not what Lions were hoping for

The Detroit Lions fell 34-7 to the Los Angeles Chargers in the NFL Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, to kick off the 2025 NFL season. While it's only preseason, Lions fans have expressed their concern over the blowout loss and the performance of backup quarterback Kyle Allen.

In his Lions debut, Allen threw for 91 yards and two interceptions on 9 of 14 passing. The Lions picked up Allen this offseason after a season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Throughout his seven-year NFL career, Allen has been a valuable backup for various teams, including the Washington Commanders, Buffalo Bills, Houston Texans, and Carolina Panthers.

Allen does have experience as a starting quarterback, having started the 2019 season for the Panthers. The Panthers finished that season with a 5-11 record with Allen throwing for over 3,000 yards, 17 touchdowns, and 16 interceptions.

Allen's debut performance raises concerns about the Lions backup QB's

Throughout Jared Goff's tenure with the Lions, Detroit has lacked a truly valuable backup quarterback under him. Detroit brought in Allen to help fill that hole, but his performance in the preseason opener has some Lions fans upset and screaming Nate Sudfeld 2.0.

It is expected throughout the preseason that Allen, along with Hendon Hooker, will be competing for the No. 2 quarterback role. Hooker also appeared in last night's game, playing mostly in the second half, throwing 18 yards and an interception on 3 of 6 passing, also not promising.

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In the nightmare scenario where Goff goes down with an injury, the Lions will have to hand the keys to either of these two quarterbacks, and as of right now, that's a reality Detroit wouldn't survive and would derail their season.

After so much hype about the training camp competition between Allen and Hooker headed into this contest, the two really fell flat to fans' expectations.

The Lions still have the preseason and training camp ahead of them

The good news for the Lions is they still have an entire training camp and preseason schedule for their two young quarterbacks to improve. The Lions are set to have their second preseason game on the road against the Atlanta Falcons on August 8th.

Detroit will also have two preseason games at Ford Field against the Miami Dolphins and Houston Texans. Allen and Hooker will get more reps in those games, and hopefully, their performances will improve.

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